American Happiness and the Need to Consume

by Tyler Suchman on March 31, 2008

From Mother Jones, a photo essay…
0happiness_13.jpg

The photos on these pages are selected from photographer Brian Ulrich’s Copia project, which began after 9/11. “In 2001, citizens were encouraged to take to the malls to boost the U.S. economy through shopping,” he says, “thereby equating consumerism with patriotism. The Copia project, a direct response to that advice, is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live.”

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{ 3 comments }

evan austin April 2, 2008 at 12:20 am

i’ve always found this fascinating:

United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1 — The Flag
§3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flag

Any person who, within the District of Columbia, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The words “flag, standard, colors, or ensign”, as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

Kit April 3, 2008 at 7:33 am

The “flag chair” shot is iconic. Went to the Mother Jones site to view the “essay”… found only small thumbnails and no way to view them since each linked to a dumb shot of a girl holding a toy. From the looks of the thumbnails, the “essay” appears rather dull, unoriginal and somewhat moronic. Such a powerful message needs a better voice. Don’t waste your time going there.

Tyler April 3, 2008 at 8:10 am

Kit – if you want to check it out, start here:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/03/happiness-2.html
and then click “Next Photo” (its grey text)

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